Seventh Sunday of Easter
June 1, 2025
Acts 7:55-60 | Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20 | John 17:20-26
I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.
– John 17:20
Jesus’s prayer in today’s readings brought to mind what I have heard from the mouths of so many mothers and fathers nearing the end of their lives: they pray that their children, whom they love so much, continue to care for each other after they are gone. That they love one another, that they be united, that they may be one. There is no more fervent prayer from a parent than that their children, whom they love most dearly in this world, love each other.
Jesus prays for us, God’s beloved, in this same way today. If we were to look only at the divisions in our world, it might seem to us as though this prayer is not being answered. But if we take a look at our families, the communities that work together, and the cultures that value unity and oneness, perhaps we will glean some hope.
Tanzanians have taught me so many times about the value of unity. Their Swahili proverbs abound with the notion: “Umoja ni nguvu, utengano ni udhaifu.” Unity is strength, division is weakness. “Nguzo moja haijengi nyumba.” One pillar does not build a house. And a more earthy one: “Kidole kimoja hakiui chawa.” A single finger can’t kill a louse.
In Tanzania, I see people exemplify the value of unity in so many ways. I see people working, playing, and living together. Perhaps you see it, too, in your immediate surroundings. Unity is not standing out so as to place oneself above others. It is acknowledging the contributions of every person. It is the expressions of kinship — of being one. If we embrace unity, maybe we can learn to change the conversation: we can sit and listen, and we can be open to both sides of an issue. And in doing so, we practice the love that Jesus prays that we achieve.
Jesus’ Ascension is not a final goodbye. But it is encouragement for us to engage in another way of being, becoming more and more united with God and with one another in the wake of Jesus’ physical departure from Earth. Just as we are loved by God and are changed by that love, so when we love each other do we and the beloved change. We are invited into new lives, new beginnings, and new potentials. Potential to be whole. Potential to be one.
Maryknoll Sister Darlene Jacobs, originally from North Dakota, joined the Maryknoll Sisters in 1961. She served in mission for 30 years in Tanzania, where she founded the Murugha Girls School. In 2014, Sister Jacobs returned to the Sisters Center in Ossining, New York, where she now lives.
To read other Scripture reflections published by the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, click here.
Featured image: Children are shown in the region of the Usambara Mountains in Tanzania. (Rod Waddington, Tanzania/Flickr.)
